Dame Anita Roddick's "green" concept

Dame Anita Roddick is my definitely my idol. She creates a great concept for her brand; it is very successful. For me, this success is good for our environment.

She is not only "say" it, she did many works to protect our environment. "One key area where my business and personal interests naturally combine is through The Body Shop Community Trade initiatives." She also contribute a lot beside the corporate. It make me to think if all corporate can combine the Human Right/ protection of environment etc. those stuff is good for us with the business. They gain the most successful from my POV.

Starbucks is running out of “Caffeine”

The big chain has reported that by expanding so feverishly and losing the exclusiveness they once had, they have actually accused their brand to lose value and become commercialized. This is allowing competition to really compete, even chains like McDonalds that aren’t in the business of making coffee but posing a threat to the large chain. The spokesperson for Starbucks said regarding expansion, “in retrospect, have (led) to the watering down of the Starbucks experience, and, what some might call the commoditization of our brand,". But the future goals of Starbucks are articulated to keep expanding, “Starbucks to become one of the world's most recognized brands, with 40,000 locations around the globe, or more than triple its current count of about 13,000. But to do that, Starbucks must improve its efficiencies and make other changes that threaten to erode the virtues that made it so successful -- which in turn could jeopardize its ability to charge premium prices.” It will be interesting to see what Starbucks does to improve its image, and push for quality, while still expanding in numbers.

Proofreading and PROOFLOOKING

After reading some blogs that I have regularly been following, I came across the importance of prooflooking. There was a printed Derek Jeter baseball card that looks like any other card. But when I looked more closer, there was a picture of President Bush in the stands that someone had apparently inserted in.
We all remember to proofread words and text, but we sometimes forget that graphics, photos and any other details we tend to look over always need to be reviewed carefully as well. So proofreading needs to include prooflooking too.
There was a company mentioned also. NCR, which is a company that mainly manages servers and networks for ATMs, made a simple classic mistake that could have been easily avoided if it were a little bit more careful. NCR printed up large quantities of an important corporate document that included a full-length picture of its CEO. After the document was proofread, it was printed and distributed. Apparently, the CEO's zipper was down and someone lost their job over a proofreading error.
So just remember that when proofreading, don't forget about the graphics.

New problem for FEMA

FEMA now has a new problem to deal with after kicking out 58 households. Katrina victims are angry that they are getting kicked out. One victim said, "They know how to put me out, but they don't know how to help me out. That's how I look at it." http://news.aol.com/topnews/articles/_a/katrina-victims-evacuate-trailer-park/20070305155209990001

A FEMA spokesperson made a statement that the decision was for the safety of the residents. The mobile home park had problems with "raw sewage and periodic power outages."

This seems to be the newest pulic relations problem for FEMA. They first received negative publicity when they did not respond in a timely manner to the victims of Hurrican Katrina. They have taken on an interesting angle in this case. Instead of taking blame and admiting to kicking people out of the park, they are claiming that they had no choice and it was for the resident's safety. Whether or not this tactic will work is up in the air. FEMA seems to have a pattern with passing the blame off onto other people.

I founs some good tips and techniques regarding public speaking and wantes to share them with the class, since we have our presentations this week.

1. Know your topic. There might be someone in your audience who is familiar with what you are saying and if you say something that is not factual, you might loose credibility.

2. Do not read from notes. Always talk convinced and preferably without using notes. Since we are using a POwer Point slide show for our presentation, it will be better if we follow up from the main pints on the slides, instead of reading off of notes.

3. Pause in between ideas and points. This will give you and your audience some time to reflect an think on the ideas that you mention.

4.. Mantain good eye contact with your audience. This is a must in all presentations.

5. If possible, add humor to your presentation. This will enhance it and make it more lively.

6. When using visual aids. Make them clear and simple. Dont have too much information on slides because it might become hectic for the audience to read.

7. Always be prepeared for questions or comments.

8. VERY IMPORTANT!...Always have a backup plan for your presentation. The equipment might not work the day of your speech, so always have your information saved on two items.

I hope this will help you guys!

Public Relations is Reaching a Growing Minority Population

With a growing Latino population in the United States, it is a wonder if the Public Relations techniques being used will be effective enough to reach such a massive minority group. A great number of Latinos can be reached effectively through Spanish media but for others a mere translation will not be enough. This is true for second and third generation Latinos who do not speak Spanish. Companies must find new media that will deliver their messages effectively to these audiences.

Perhaps Blogs can be the media that is needed. With a huge development of blogs there are many that targeted for that segment of the latino population. These blogs do a great job of addressing Latino concerns, promoting their dreams and explaining their unique perspectives. Among these blogs are Vivirlatino, Latinalista and LatinoPundit.

I found a very intersting book that addresses this issue. I hope you enjoy it.

Octavio Rojas, writing as part of the Virtual Road Show "Relaciones Públicas. La Eficacia de la Influencia – Public Relations. The Effectiveness of Influence" (for a synopsis of the book in English click on the picture)

How To Be A Good Guest

I found those tips on how to be a good guest, on the PR blog that I am following and I want to share them with the class. Here are the tips:

-Always mention your company at least 3 times in a 15 minute interview.
Most Producers know and understand that’s why you’re on their broadcast in the first place. Most will never bring it up so you have to be a “used car salesman” and mention it.

-Be yourself!
Don’t try to be Rush Limbaugh or any radio announcer….it sounds phony and most
Producers can see it coming a mile away.

-Be concise
Summarize your main point in a crisp 3 minutes. That’s how long you will get when you’re on a TV program or a radio broadcast.

-Think before you speak
Speak slowly; I didn’t say dead. Speak like you talk and think before you speak.

-Offer your help
Offer the Editor or Producer help in ways to write or how to cover your story.
Don’t be pushy, but you can offer valuable insight into possible angles for the story.

-Always say thank you
Too many times a guest leaves without thanking the crew, the hosts, the producer.

Blogs don't write themselves-some blogging tips

I don't know about the rest of you, but I feel like blogging is extremely difficult. I find myself searching for a topic to write on for several days. After I find that topic, I'll analyze it to death until I think it's too boring to write about, or have no idea how to lay it out.

Then in my quest to find a topic, I stumbled over a blog like it was a kick to the head. "Tips on writing content for your blog" was published by Piaras Kelly in 2005, but thank goodness it's still up for people like me. My favorite tip is # 10- "Be controversial: Don't be a sheep, stand out and voice your own opinion." That was probably my biggest fear- that someone wouldn't like or that noone would care about what I wrote. But like Kelly said, "Who cares if nobody agrees with you?" I guess I won't!

The New Rules of PR

PRWebs CEO and founder David McInnis is set to host a free webinar featuring David Meerman Scott, author of the "New Rules of PR" forcusing on how to create a press release strategy for reaching buyers directly.

Davids ebook offers PR professionals the tools they need to survive in today's world of social media. David McInnis, Founder and CEO of PRWeb said "This webinar provides professionals the opportunity to discuss 'The New Rules of PR' directly with David and further develop strategies and tips to create an effective press release."

This ebook has become a must have guide for PR practioners. David Meerman Scott is an online thought leadership strategist. The programs he has developed have won numerous awards and are responsible for selling over one billion dollars in products and services worldwide. His work is highly used throught the field of public relations.

Scotts other book "The New Rules of Marketing and PR: How to Use News Releases, Blogs, Viral Marketing and Online Media to Reach Buyers Directly" will be published around June 2007. Leaving PR practioners looking forward to his future work, hoping for more insight and professional tips to succeed in the field.

The content of the New Rules of PR will benefit many people in the field of PR and will serve as a tool to students learning the ways and rules of public relations.

PR Blogs

There are lots of websites out there that provide blogs with recent PR news. However, some of them are getting worse.

For example, the PR releases now running on Bloglines PR circuit … VP appointed here, SVP there, blah blah here and there. It used to be a very great source for ideas. But now the blogs are mostly about blah is being proud to lead blah and become the leader of the industry.

Google blog search for "public relations" yield for even better results and informational blogs than Bloglines do. For example, one of the results is today Arizona Venture Capital is sponsoring a conference that highlights use of social media by Arizona companies, featuring social media gurus Robert Scoble and Chris Heuer.

Sources: PR Blog News